At the kind invitation of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States (Social Affairs Sector), the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization took part in the meeting of Ministers in charge of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, held virtually on October 16, 2022.
The meeting is designed to adopt the final version of the Comprehensive Development Plan of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Arab Word, ahead of its submission to the forthcoming Arab Development Summit.
The meeting was attended by the relevant ministers from Tunisia and Algeria, the heads of delegation of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the representatives of a number of partner organizations.
In his statement to the meeting, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, started by extending his greetings to the participating ministers, to H.E. Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General, Head of Social Affairs Sector at League of Arab States, as well as to the heads of delegation and the representatives of organizations.
The Director-General stressed that ALECSO is keen to actively participate in this meeting, being a strategic partner in developing the Comprehensive Development Plan, jointly with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States. He commended the fruitful and continuous cooperation between ALECSO, the General Secretariat and all joint Arab action organizations, which covers various areas of joint Arab action, and seeks to unify efforts and improve outputs.
The Director-General indicated that ALECSO has been working, since its inception, to develop reference documents in the TVET sector with the aim of enhancing the performance of this sector and strengthening the capacities of those working in it, jointly with strategic partners, Arab national institutions, and relevant experts.
The Director-General announced that ALECSO is preparing to hold the third session of the Conference of Arab Ministers and Officials in charge of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, to be kindly hosted by Algeria in December 2022. ALECSO is also working, jointly with the Association of Arab Universities, to develop “The Common Arab Qualifications Framework”, as part of implementing the recommendations issued by ministerial conferences recently held by ALECSO.
The Director-General referred, in his statement, to the resolution issued by the 4th Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, which “emphasizes the importance of enhancing technical and vocational education and training in the Arab world”, and “calls on the General Secretariat to hold a meeting of Arab TVET experts, in coordination with ALECSO and with the participation of relevant bodies and institutions, to develop a framework for a ‘Comprehensive Development Plan of Technical and Vocational Education and Training’ that is aligned with labor market needs, as well as to establish the related implementation and follow-up mechanisms, and to submit the Plan to Arab States”. In implementation of this resolution, five consultative meetings were held. He indicated, in this context, that the framework of the Plan includes 9 goals and focuses on 4 dimensions, namely : the planning dimension, the legislative dimension, the educational dimension, and the social dimension.
The Director-General concluded by commending this fruitful cooperation, indicating that ALECSO will harness all its capabilities for the implementation of this Plan.
